Herbert Loren Adams (April 14, 1928 – February 1, 2012) was an American baseball outfielder who played three seasons in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox. He was born in Hollywood, California, and later coached at Northern Illinois University.
Robert Lee Patrick (October 27, 1917 – October 6, 1999) was a Major League Baseball outfielder. He played parts of two seasons in the major leagues, 1941 and 1942 for the Detroit Tigers. He appeared in nine games, going 4-for-15 at the plate. His career, like so many other players of the so-called Greatest Generation, was interrupted by World War II. He served in the U.S. Army attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant.
Robert Brandon Davis (September 10, 1927 – June 12, 2005) was an American professional baseball player, manager, coach and longtime scout who spent 52 years in the game. In his playing days, the outfielder appeared in 67 games in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 1952 and 1953 seasons. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 170 pounds (77 kg), and was a native and lifelong resident of Newark, Delaware.
Robert Rudolph Balcena (August 1, 1925 – January 5, 1990) was an American professional baseball player. He played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Redlegs during the 1956 season. He had two at-bats and scored two runs as a pinch runner.
Listed at 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), 160 pounds (73 kg), Balcena batted right-handed and threw left-handed. He was born in San Pedro, California.
Prior to playing professional baseball, Balcena served in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II with the United States Navy.Balcena became the first player of Asian American and Filipino ancestry to appear in a major league game. He had a long distinguished Triple-A career with the Seattle Rainiers as a center fielder in the 1950s; one paper described him as a "popular miniature dynamo of almost infallible perpetual motion" after his Rainier team won the 1955 Pacific Coast League title.He also played from 1952 through 1962 in the Minor Leagues, including stints with the Leones del Caracas and the Industriales de Valencia in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.
He batted .284 with 134 home run and 441 runs batted in in 1948 minor league games. In a VPBL two-season career, he posted a .306 average with five homers and 44 RBI in 87 games.
After his baseball career ended, he worked as a longshoreman in Seattle where he had played parts of four seasons in the minor leagues.Despite being the first Filipino-American to play in the major leagues, Balcena kept company with Slavs during his life. His union president told the Los Angeles Times that he was an "honorary Slav. He always r[a]n around with the San Pedro Slavs. He speaks Slav. He sings Slav." Outside of his professional career, he also played baseball with an amateur team of Yugoslav Americans.Balcena died in his hometown of San Pedro, California at the age of 64.
Brent David Brede (born September 13, 1971) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder.
Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 5th round of the 1990 Major League Baseball draft, Brede made his MLB debut with the Twins on September 8, 1996. He was a member of the inaugural Arizona Diamondbacks team that began play in Major League Baseball in 1998, and appeared in his final major game for them on September 27 of that year. He played one season with the Chiba Lotte Marines in 1999 and the 2000 season for the Triple-A Nashville Sounds of the Pacific Coast League before retiring. Brent Brede is now a high school teacher and coaches basketball at his alma mater.
Kevin Craig Koslofski (born September 24, 1966) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who played for four seasons. He played for the Kansas City Royals from 1992 to 1994 and the Milwaukee Brewers in 1996.
After attending Maroa-Forsyth High School in Maroa, Illinois, Koslofski was drafted and signed by the Royals in June 1984. He made his MLB debut eight years later on June 28, 1992, leading off for Kansas City and collecting three hits in a 9–2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
Koslofski ended that 1992 season with three home runs and a batting average of .248. He batted only 30 times for the Royals over the next two seasons, however. He signed with Milwaukee as a free agent and appeared in 25 games for the Brewers in his final season, 1996.
Ronald Lawrence Woods (born February 1, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player who appeared in all or part of six seasons in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1974, primarily as an outfielder, for the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees and Montreal Expos. He also played two seasons in Japan for the Chunichi Dragons in 1975–1976. Born in Hamilton, Ohio, Woods threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and weighed 168 pounds (76 kg).
Woods graduated from Compton High School in Southern California, and entered pro baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates' organization in June 1961. However, after five years in the Pittsburgh farm system, he had risen only as high as the Double-A level. Early in 1966, the Detroit Tigers acquired his contract. After a strong 1968 season with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, Woods made the 1969 roster of the defending World Series champion Tigers out of spring training. He appeared in 17 early-season games for Detroit, largely as a pinch hitter, pinch runner and defensive replacement, before being traded June 14 to the New York Yankees for veteran outfielder Tom Tresh.
Although he struggled offensively, Woods was able to solidify his hold on a major league job with the Yankees, appearing in 192 games (starting 147) from June 1969 to June 1971. On June 25 of the latter year, the Yankees sent Woods to the Montreal Expos for former New York Mets outfielder Ron Swoboda. Despite a brief detour to Triple-A Winnipeg in 1971, Woods spent the next 31⁄2 years on the Expo roster, appearing in 373 games and batting a cumulative .245. In 1973, he was Montreal's most-used center fielder, starting 72 games and platooning with left-handed hitters Boots Day and Jim Lyttle, as the Expos, a fifth-year expansion team, battled for the National League East Division title before falling short by 31⁄2 games.
That off-season, however, the Expos traded for veteran center fielder Willie Davis of the Los Angeles Dodgers, relegating Woods to part-time status in 1974. He started 21 games all season, batted .205 in 127 at bats, and departed for the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball. He played the 1975 and 1976 seasons in Japan, appearing in 192 total games and hitting .263 with 160 hits and 19 home runs.
Doing Woods' six seasons in the major leagues, Woods batted .233. His 290 hits in 1,247 at bats included 34 doubles, 12 triples, and 26 career home runs. He compiled 130 RBIs, and 27 stolen bases.
Norman Michael Hershberger (October 9, 1939 – July 1, 2012) was an American professional baseball player and outfielder for the Chicago White Sox (1961–1964, 1971), Kansas City / Oakland Athletics (1965–1969) and Milwaukee Brewers (1970) during an 11-season Major League Baseball career. Born in Massillon, Ohio, he threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and weighed 175 pounds (79 kg).
He signed with the White Sox in 1959 after graduating from Massillon High School and attending the University of Cincinnati. He held down a starting corner outfielder job in the majors for seven straight years (1962–1968), and in 1966 led the American League in sacrifice flies (7) during his tenure with the Athletics.
In his 11 MLB seasons, Hershberger played in 1,150 games and had 3,572 at bats, 398 runs, 900 hits, 150 doubles, 22 triples, 26 home runs, 344 runs batted in, 74 stolen bases, 319 walks, .252 batting average, .316 on-base percentage, .328 slugging percentage, 1,172 total bases, 33 sacrifice hits, 28 sacrifice flies and 19 intentional walks.
He died in Massillon on July 1, 2012, following a brief illness.
Rodney Blaine Graber (June 20, 1930 in Massillon, Ohio - December 5, 2014 in San Diego, California) was a former Major League Baseball center fielder. He was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cleveland Indians in 1949. He did not play in the major leagues until 1958, where he went 1 for 8 over two games played as an outfielder. He did not make an error and had four putouts.
Dain Elmer Clay (July 10, 1919 – August 28, 1994) was a Major League Baseball outfielder. He played for the Cincinnati Reds of the National League. Clay played collegiately at Kent State University in 1943. He played in four seasons with the Reds, from 1943 to 1946. In 1945, Clay led the National League in at-bats with 656, and was sixth in games played, with 153. In 433 games, Clay was a .258 career hitter (397-for-1540) with 3 home runs and 98 runs batted in.